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My first sourdough loaf looked like a deflated football after 12 hours of proofing | Baking Fails And Wins - Rigidtalk

My first sourdough loaf looked like a deflated football after 12 hours of proofing

I was so proud of myself. I spent 3 days feeding my starter, named it 'Breadley Cooper' and everything. The recipe said to let it proof until doubled, so I left it on the counter for about 12 hours while I went to work. Came back to a flat, sticky mess that looked like someone sat on a pancake. Turns out I overproofed it big time because my kitchen is way warmer than I thought, like 78 degrees instead of the 70 the recipe assumed. When I baked it anyway, it came out as a dense brick with a crackly crust that was actually kind of good for dipping in soup. Has anyone else gone through a whole naming ceremony for a starter that ended up betraying them?

2 comments

2 Comments

verac403mo ago

OH MY GOD, Breadley Cooper! I absolutely LOVE that name! You have no idea how much I relate to this. My first starter was named 'Yeasty Boy' and he was a total DISASTER too. I finally figured out the whole temperature thing the hard way after about 10 flat loaves. What totally saved me was using a thermometer in my oven with just the light on to keep it at a steady 75F instead of my 77F kitchen. Also, I started doing my bulk proof in a glass bowl and marking where it started with a rubber band. That way I could actually SEE when it doubled instead of guessing. The dense brick with crackly crust is honestly a rite of passage, and yours sounds like it was actually kinda good for dipping, so you're already ahead of where I was at that point.

the_lucas3mo ago

verac40 the glass bowl with a rubber band thing is genius, I wish I had thought of that earlier. It's so easy to eyeball it and think "yeah that's probably doubled" when really it's only like 30% bigger. I tried that with a plastic container once but the sides were too cloudy and I couldn't see through them. The thermometer in the oven trick is huge too because my kitchen temp swings like crazy depending on if the sun is hitting the window or if I'm running the dishwasher. I started preheating my oven to like 100F then turning it off and putting the dough in there with a bowl of hot water. It gives me a steady temp for like two hours and my dough actually rises now instead of sitting there looking sad. The crackly crust on a dense loaf is honestly the best part even when the inside is a failure, it's like the universe gives you a little reward for trying.